[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 391-392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-79]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-26-ISFSI, ASLBP No. 02-801-01-ISFSI]


Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 
(Diablo Canyon Power Plant Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installation); Notice of Hearing (Application To Construct and Operate 
an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation)

December 27, 2002.
Before Administrative Judges: G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chairman, Dr. 
Jerry R. Kline and Dr. Peter S. Lam.

    This proceeding concerns the December 21, 2001 application of 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) under 10 CFR part 72 for 
permission to construct and operate an independent spent fuel storage 
installation (ISFSI) at its Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) site near 
San Luis Obispo, California. On April 12, 2002, the NRC staff issued a 
notice that the agency is (1) considering this license amendment 
application; and (2) affording the opportunity for an adjudicatory 
hearing on the PG&E application. That notice was published in the 
Federal Register on April 22, 2002. (67 FR 19600 (Apr. 22, 2002).) 
Responding to the April 2002 notice of opportunity for a hearing, 
various petitioners, including the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace 
(SLOMFP), which by consent is acting as a lead petitioner, Peg Pinard, 
the Avila Valley Advisory Council, and nine other organizations, 
including the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, San Luis Obispo 
Cancer Action Now, the Cambria Legal Defense Fund, the Central Coast 
Peace and Environmental Council, the Environmental Center of San Luis 
Obispo, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the San Luis Obispo Chapter of 
Grandmothers for Peace International, Santa Margarita Area Residents 
Together, and the Ventura County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation 
filed timely requests for hearing and petitions to intervene in 
accordance with 10 CFR 2.714 that, as supplemented, seek to interpose 
various joint contentions challenging the application. In response to 
those hearing requests, on May 29, 2002, the Secretary of the 
Commission referred the petitions to the Atomic Safety and Licensing 
Board Panel to conduct any subsequent adjudication. On May 31, 2002, 
this Licensing Board was appointed to preside over this proceeding. (67 
FR 39073 (June 6, 2002).) The Board consists of Dr. Jerry R. Kline, Dr. 
Peter S. Lam, and G. Paul Bollwerk, III, who serves as Chairman of the 
Board. In addition, San Luis Obispo County, California (SLOC), the Port 
San Luis Harbor District (PSLHD), the California Energy Commission, the 
Diablo Canyon Independent Safety Committee (DCISC), and the Avila Beach 
Community Services District (ABCSD) filed requests to participate in 
any hearing as interested governmental entities in accordance with 10 
CFR 2.715(c) and, in the case of SLOC and PSLHD, proffered particular 
issues they wished to have litigated in the proceeding.
    Beginning on September 10, 2002, the Board conducted a two-day 
initial prehearing conference, during which it heard oral presentations 
regarding the standing of each of the petitioners, the participation of 
DCISC as an interested governmental entity, and the admissibility of 
the eight contentions and four issues raised by the section 2.714 
intervenors and section 2.715(c) interested governmental entities SLOC 
and PSLHD. Additionally, in response to an appearance at the initial 
prehearing conference by an ABCSD representative regarding the status 
of a request for admission as a section 2.715(c) participant that it 
previously had submitted to the agency, the Board requested that ABCSD 
resubmit such a request directly to the Board, which it subsequently 
did, stating that it did not have any new issues it wished to raise on 
its own. Thereafter, in a December 2, 2002 issuance the Board ruled on 
the various outstanding matters, concluding that (1) although some of 
the section 2.714 petitioners lacked standing, the remainder not only 
fulfilled that jurisprudential requirement, but also set forth one 
admissible contention so as to warrant admission as parties, with 
SLOMFP as the lead intervenor; and (2) with the exception of DCISC, 
section 2.715(c) interested government entity status should be afforded 
to those requesting that designation, but that the SLOC and PSLHD-
proffered issues did not meet the section 2.714 standards governing 
contention admissibility. (Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (Diablo Canyon 
Power Plant Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation), LBP-02-23, 56 
NRC--(Dec. 2, 2002), requests for partial referral and reconsideration 
denied, LBP-02-25, 56 NRC--(Dec. 26, 2002).)
    In light of the foregoing, please take notice that a hearing will 
be conducted in this proceeding. This hearing will be governed by the 
formal hearing procedures set forth in 10 CFR part 2, subpart G (10 CFR 
2.700 through 2.790), subject to the election that has been made by 
applicant Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the NRC staff to utilize 
the hybrid hearing procedures in 10 CFR part 2, subpart K (10 CFR 
2.1101 through 2.1117).
    During the course of the proceeding, the Board may conduct an oral 
argument, as provided in 10 CFR. 2.755 and 2.1113, may hold additional 
prehearing conferences pursuant to 10 CFR 2.752, and may conduct 
evidentiary hearings in accordance with 10 CFR 2.750, 2.751, and 
2.1115. The public is invited to attend any oral argument, prehearing 
conference, or evidentiary hearing. Notices of those sessions will be 
published in the Federal Register and/or made available to the public 
at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and 
through the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov.
    Additionally, as provided in 10 CFR 2.715(a), any person not a 
party to the proceeding may submit a written limited appearance 
statement setting forth his or her position on the issues in this 
proceeding. These statements do not constitute evidence, but may assist 
the Board and/or parties in defining the issues being considered. 
Persons wishing to submit a written limited appearance statement should 
send by mail to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff or by e-mail to [email protected]. A

[[Page 392]]

copy of the statement also should be served on the Chairman of this 
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by mail to the Atomic Safety and 
Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001 or by e-mail to [email protected]. At a later date, the Board 
may entertain oral limited appearance statements at a location or 
locations in the vicinity of the Diablo Canyon facility. Notice of any 
oral limited appearance sessions will be published in the Federal 
Register and/or made available to the public at the NRC PDR and on the 
NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov.
    Documents relating to this proceeding are available for public 
inspection at the Commission's PDR or electronically from the publicly 
available records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is 
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). Persons who do not 
have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR reference staff 
by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
[email protected].
    It is so ordered.

    Dated in Rockville, Maryland, on December 27, 2002.
    For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board\*\
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    \*\ Copies of this notice of hearing were sent this date by 
Internet e-mail transmission to counsel for (1) applicant PG&E (2) 
petitioners SLOMFP, et al.; (3) SLOC, PSLHD, CEC, ABCSD, and DCISC; 
and (4) the staff.
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G. Paul Bollwerk, III,
Administrative Judge.
[FR Doc. 03-79 Filed 1-2-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P